With the fourth quarter winding down in Lee's 26-10 win against Amarillo High, the Sandies were facing an impossible 4th and 15 when quarterback Gabe Rodriguez dropped back and had nowhere to go with the ball.

Rodriguez tried to buy time, but a pesky Lee defender pursuing him from behind finally forced him to reluctantly head upfield.

But even then the fleet-footed Rodriguez wasn't able to evade his adversary, who was still relentlessly nipping at his heels.

Finally, nearly 10 yards up the field, the feisty Rebel, all 6-foot, 378 pounds of him, dove at Rodriguez, catching his feet and knocking him off balance before Rodriguez was stopped five yards short of the first down.

Waylon Roberson didn't tackle Rodriguez on that play, but he's certainly proud of his effort.

"I got his leg," the defensive tackle pointed out. "And he tripped."

Roberson need not worry -- the play certainly didn't go unnoticed.

"At the end of the game, you know he's got to be tired," Lee head coach James Morton said. "He's rocking it right along."

For Morton, in particular, the sight of Roberson chasing a player half his size nearly 10 yards up field in the fourth quarter had to be a sight to see.

When Morton arrived at Lee in Roberson's freshman year, Roberson, who has asthma, was barely able to complete one of Morton's rigorous practices.

"You know how we bounce around here in practice at a high tempo," Morton said. "He couldn't make it from one transition drill to another without the inhaler."

"It was a lot harder than it used to be," a laughing Roberson said of his first Lee practice.

But even then, Morton noticed that Roberson wasn't just a big body.

"He had really pretty good feet on him," Morton said, "and he worked pretty hard."

That was evident this past offseason as Roberson prepared for his first full varsity season.

Even workout warrior Talmage Cockerell, who played with Roberson on Lee's junior varsity Maroon team last year, noticed Roberson working with smaller players trying to improve his conditioning.

But for Roberson it was no big deal.

"(It's) just the same as always because I'm always the biggest one," he said.

That's been the case since Roberson started playing in second grade and continues today as opposing scouts marveling at his size has become a weekly press box ritual.

Yet Roberson said he's used to the expectations that come with being the biggest player on the field.

"That's how it is," Roberson said with a laugh. "After a while you just know that's you."

The easy-going Roberson laughs a lot, particularly at the idea that he deserves extra praise for his feats because of his size.

"It's just how it always was," he said.

But the fact remains that the junior has improved as much as anyone on the team.

Roberson's stamina is up from last year as is his strength.

He's improved his squat from 315 to 500 pounds.

And his technique, which Morton said has been his biggest improvement, is better, which only adds to his strengths.

"In my opinion he has the best hands out of all of us," Cockerell said, "and his feet are really fast,"

Now Roberson is a significant contributor on an improved Rebel defense as evidenced by his four tackles, including one for loss, against Amarillo High.

"He's just an anchor," Morton said. "He's a big body in there, but really he has pretty good pad level, and he's got good punch and (can) come off the ball and get after it."

The scary part is that Roberson, just a junior, still has room to improve.

"He's a pretty aggressive kid," Morton said, "but man he could really tear it up if he hit that next step with his aggressiveness."

For Morton, though, just seeing the growth of Roberson to this point has to be gratifying.

Just two years ago, the Rebel coaching staff wasn't even sure Roberson was going to be able to contribute for an entire game.

But as plays like his pursuit of Rodriguez show, that's certainly not the case.

What to expect on offense: Tascosa's spread offense has put up gaudy passing numbers at times -- take McIlraith's 302 yards and five touchdowns against Hereford for example -- but the Rebels look to run first and that won't change against Lee. "We're a team that if we're not able to run the ball then we're usually not successful," Plunk said. "We have to move it a bit on the ground...we're successful through the air when we can set it up with the run." Humphries, who boasts 4.4 speed, will be the one Tascosa looks to to get its ground game going. When McIlraith looks to throw, Britton and Wright have big-play ability, especially Britton, who's a speedster on the outside.

What to expect on defense: Tascosa's 4-3 defense was impressive in its first three games, including shutting out Odessa High for three quarters in a 14-7 loss. Odessa Permian, though, blew its game open with 21 unanswered points in the second quarter, which was enough to hold off the Rebels in a 28-26 win. The Rebels don't have great size on this side of the ball but have good speed on defense, which Lee struggled with in its worst offensive game against Amarillo Palo Duro. Humphries and Wright will both line up in the Tascosa secondary and must be accounted for in the passing game. Linebacker Rashondric Sheppard is a playmaker in the front seven and has the ability to line up at defensive end.

Of note

-- Plunk said special teams will be important for Tascosa after it missed an extra point and failed on a two-point conversion against Permian, which may have been the difference in the game. The Rebels will continue to be without starting kicker Yarbrough, who missed last week's game against Permian and is out until the start of district play.

-- Tascosa is 0-2 on the road this season, and Plunk said he's hoping to see an improvement against Lee. "We've been pretty enthusiastic at home," Plunk said. "Even though we played well at Hereford we didn't have a lot of energy. I'm looking for a team that's going to be able to go on the road and create its own energy, its own intensity."

-- Plunk called Lee "probably the best defense we've faced" and said Tascosa will face a stiff challenge up front in trying to win the line of scrimmage against the bigger Lee defensive line.

-- Lee head coach James Morton said his team is improving steadily on offense but needs to learn to get in the end zone at the end of drives. "We're better in our drives," Morton said. "The next thing we've actually got to get to is we've got to finish drives off." Lee had three drives end in field goal attempts against Amarillo High with kicker Miles Vincent making two of his attempts.

-- Lee has won its last four meetings against Tascosa, including two wins when both were in District 2-5A in 2008-2009.The last two meetings between the teams have been decided by a field goal.

-- This is Tascosa's third consecutive game against a 3-5A team after dropping its last two to Odessa High and Permian. Tascosa has lost its last 14 games against 3-5A teams with its last win coming in 2007 against Odessa High.